1994 (31st) Space Exploration and Utilization The Space Congress® Proceedings for the Good of the World Apr 28th, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Paper Session III-A - History of the First NASA Contract with Russia Barbara D. Connelly-Fratzke NASA Headquarters, Office of Space Systems Development Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Connelly-Fratzke, Barbara D., "Paper Session III-A - History of the First NASA Contract with Russia" (1994). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 18. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1994-31st/april-28-1994/18 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. History of the First NASA Contract with Russia Barbara D. Connelly-Fratzke NASA Headquarters Office of Space Systems Development This story begins after the end of the cold war with the Soviet Union. after perestroika had its initial impact on the economy, at about the time the Russian space firms were beginning to lose government support and fac ing hard times ahead. As part or the FY92 Budget approval, Congress, in its wisdom, directed NASA to investigate the Russian space hardware and determine its feasibility for use in the U.S. space program. At the invitation of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the Russian firm NPO Energia, NASA made a reconnaissance visit to NPO Energia to open discussions concerning Russian space hardware.